Method of drying grapes and other fruit



2 Sheets-Sheet l J. M. MaoLAcHLAN METHOD OF DRYING GRAPES AND OTHER FRUIT Filed July 13.

J. M. MaCLACHLAN METHOD O DRYING GRAPES AND OTHER FRUIT Filed July 13 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 .sy/05 /77'7-07? EYS lTo aZZ whom t may concern.' f

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' JOHN M. MAOLACHLAN, 0E"IDLIILAUKEE,` WISCONSIN. f

nfnfrnon or DRYING Genres `AND oriana FRUIT..

Application led July 13,

Be it known that I, JOHN M. MACV`4 siding at Milwaukee, in the county of vMil waukee and State of 'lrVisconsim have .in-H vented certain new and useful Improvements inMethods of Drying Grapes and Other F ruit; and l do hereby declare the follows ing to'be a full, clear, and exact description of the. invention, .such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains toy make and use the same. p

rlhis invention relates to the method .of drying fruit, and particularly yto the method of drying grapes. Grapes and other fruit have heretofore been dried, but the drying has usually been performed in slowv stages so that the flavor and characterv of the fruit is entirely changed andthe original flavor of the fresh fruit is not retainedl and cannotbe restored. Since the adoption of the eighteenth. amendment to the Con-v stitution, large quantities of grapes that` were heretofore used in making Winehave to be marketed as other products and the process ofv the present invention isdesigned to utilize and facilitatethe market of ,a large number of such grapes;

lt is an object of this invention to produce e, product from fruits, particularly grapes, y

'net .comprising the yWalls' 1l is' i lustrated, whichl ycabinet 'is preferablecylindrical. lTliiscabinet isfof considerable height and,`

consisting of a dry powdered material, which material, at any time subsequent to its production, can be mixed withl Water to produce a pulp or juice having all the flavor and properties of the original fresh L fruit. Y. l

lt is a further object of the invention to produce such a dry powdered material by grinding the fruit and then spraying and separating the same into minuteparticles and rapidly7 drying said separated parti-fcles. l

These and other objects and advantagesv of the invention Will more yfully appear from the folle-Wing description made incon-A nection With the accompanying drawings. illustrating` a form of apparatus by which the process may be carriedout and in which, l

Fig.v l is a view in vertical section through the apparatus; v

Fig. 2 is a` horizontal section talien sub-l stantially on the line 2--2 of F 1g. 1as jinvdicated by the arrows; o Fig. 3 is a vertical section of a po l of the .ratedv from the 1922. serial No.,574,7a2.

on a more enlarged scale.l

n carrying out the proccss,"`fi'esh ripe grapes are firsttreated toremovethe seeds therefrom. This operation lcan be pering process.

.apparatus "Show n on an enlarged if 4Scaleand." y v l y v ACHLAN a CZBD of the United States, re- K ,Y

v Fig.4 is a fragmentary vertical section n' ofy a portion ofthe yapparatus shown inr formed .by ..using anyy of' the 'Wellknown 1 seeding machines, comprising 'a "rotating screen cylinder, or the seeds may be sepa-y grapes by gr'avity and Washl After the seeds haveibeen separated from the grapes', 1the pulp of the grapesptogether with the hulls or `skins and the "matter to .givevan Ay:exceedingly' chine.

adhering to the latter are roundverytine`v fignej pulp. This grinding process can be carried out in any" of the` Well known' disk'grnding machines" y or in thecylinder and `concave typeof ma' Thev fluid 'or pulpy. consistency of the lcrushed fruitli'wil'l vmaterially assist inf` y.secu-ring a` lnely'ground product.

After the 4fr uitprgrapes has beenground,l i

thelflne pulp is in thelorimvof athick liquidy and thesaine is treated in the apparatus will now be described. y v

Referringv to the drawings, a dr ing' cabishown in the drawingsfvvhich l'apparatus "n asfillustratedjis adapted. toi `occupy 'the spacel between seve'ral'j'loors4 A Aof a*l buildvving., SoniewlnaCv adjacent its topfthe'cabi net is providedwith spacedfopenings 2 e'X-.

tending fora short distance Acircumferentially about 'y the Wall7 which yopenings are vprovided. Withfspaced vertical shutters 3,

preferablykadjustably mounted lto beset 'at different inclinations.' i 'Ther lower part of thel cabinet is enlarged, asV shovvnat l? and the cabinet terminates,sinl a conical base vhaving a` central discharge outlet 4', the bot torn*l of said base 'bein provided `With spaced man-holesl '5,fforin1ng'means'or entry into the cabinet. ,AfdJacent one/side o the cabinet, alpartitioni'of semi-cylindrical shape :extends downwardly substan tially in alinement vviththev Wall l to the space from the partition and these baffle plates preferably being in staggered relation. The projecting wall 1*?L forms a ledge or horizontal projection 1b in the cabinet and at apolnt substantially centrally of the partition 7 an outlet conduit 8 extends upwardly from the horizontal portion 1b and is connected'to and communicates with a cyclone separating device'9 formed as 'a downwardly converging cone having a central discharge conduit 10. An' outlet conduit 11 for the air or gas from the separator is also shown. This cyclone separator is of any well known type of such apparatus and need not be further described,

The material t0 be dried will be contained in a vat or other suitable means and regularly fed into a funnel 12 secured the upper end of arota'ry tube 13 carried in suitable bearings located and supported on theupper floor A. This tube is adapted to be rotated at high speed and for this purpose, has connected thereto the rotor ot a steam turbine 14 to whichv steam is supplied through a steam pipe 15 which will be connected with an suitable source of steam supply.A The tu e 13, at its bottom end, carries a distributing plate 16 havin thereon an upwardly projecting cone 17 t e pointed end of which projects upwardly into the bottom. of tube 13. Secured to the lower ing into the the wall 1a,

end of the tube and surrounding the plate 16 is a disk 18 concave on its lower side. An annular shield 19 depends from a suitable bracket and vhas its lower edge somewhat sharpened and flaring outwardly above and adjacent the outer edge of the disk 18 and an annular steam pipe 20 extends about this shield 19 adjacent its lower flaring edge. This pipe 20 is provided with a large number of small holes 21, as shown in Fig. 4, through which steam is adapted to be projected against the Haringv portion of the shield 19 and thence deflected outwardly and downwardly about the edge of the disk .18.

.Steamt is supplied to the pipe 20 through the pipe 22 which will also'be connected to j any suitable source of steam s upply. An-

. through the hopper other steam pipe 23 is, likewise. connected to a steam supply and extends downwardly 12 and a short distance into the tube 13.

In operation, the finely ground pulp of thc fruit will be regularly fed into the hopper 12 and will' pass downwardly through the tube 13 which will be rotated at very high speed by the turbine 14. The material will strike the cone 17 Aand will be sprayed upon the plate 16 from whence it will be thrown outwardly with great force against the disk 18. The material will be sprayed upon the latter disk-and projected radially outwardly and downwardly therefrom in an umbrella-like shower and in a thin film. It has been found in experiments that the rapidly rotating tube 13 tends to draw air upwardly therethrough which appreciably impedes the progress of the material through said tube. In order to overcome the tendency of the material to become clogged or stopped, the pipe 23 is provided through which a blast of steam iis projected downwardly through said tube. This keeps the material moving therethrough in a uniform stream. The various steam pipes 15, 22 and 23, will be provided with suitable controlling valves, as'shown in Fig. 1.

Steam, preferabl Y superheated, will be introduced through t ie steam pipe 22 and this steam will issue in a multitude oi small jets from the pipe 20 against the flaring edge of the shield 19 from which it will be delected outwardly in a substantial continuous under suitable pressure through the open#` ing 3 into the cabinet. The projected material will VLfall through the heated air and will be rapidly dried so that by the time itfreaches the bottom of the cabinet it will be in the form of a fine dry Hour-like powder. A rotating from the centrifugal rot-ating distributer and thc introduction of 'air into the cabinet, and some of the finer material will be held in suspens/ion in this air current. The outlety for the air, as described is between the partitions 7 and the wall 1a and the air in passing outwardly encounters the baiiles 7 so that some of the material carried thereby will be precipitated. The air issuing from the cabinet passes through the conduit 8 and is preferably assed through the cyclone separator 9 wliere practically all of the suspended 'material is separated therefrom. The dry material falling to thebottorn of the cabinet will be discharged through the outlet 4 and received in suitable barrels or receptacles b and the material discharged from the cyclone separator through the conduit 10 will, likewise, be received in similar barrels b.

As stated, the minute particles separated in the spray and by the blast of the dry superheated steam will be dried in transit throu h the hot drying medium or air containe in the cabinet l.

The dry powdered material formed can be used for making grape juice or for pastry, desserts and other culinary products` If the powder is used for grape juice and a clear juice is desired it may be necessary to strain'. the mixture of the water and owder.

action of the air results When the powder is thus mixed wit watery 13o amarsi contained in waterproof containers. This is necessary owing to the large sugar content of the product. It .the same becomes moist the powder tends to form in lumps. Such lumps, however, do not in any way have an injurious eli'ect on the powder and ,readily pass into solution when the saine is mixed with water.

F rom the above description it is seen that applicant has provided a novel and eiiicient method for drying and preserving fruits. rl`lie liiuit powder is capable of many uses and can be marketed and shippedin much more convenient form and in much less volume than the liquid products made from the fruit.

lt will, of course, be understood that various changes may be made in the steps of the process and the sequence thereof without departing fromthe scope of applicants inventionE which, generally stated, consists in the matter shown and described and set forth iii the appended claims.

nld/'hat is claimed is:

l. 'llie process of 'preparing a dried fruit ler which consists in finely grinding iesli trait to torni a line pulp, spraying Lb.d pulp and then separating the saine into e ininiite particles and then rapidly drying said particles to form a powder.

2. llie process oi preparing dried fruit owder which consists in crushing the fruit rid separating the seeds thereicroin, grindthe fruit to a very fine pulp, spraying d pulp in a shower at high velocity. aratiiig said pulp into minute particles while in said shower and rapidly drying said separated particles to forin a dry powdered substance.

3. The process of preparing dried fruit whichconsists in grinding the fresh fruit to a fine pulp, spraying said pulp in a shower I Vand separating the pulp into minute particles in a liot drying medium` and rapidly drying said separated particles while in 'transit in said medium.

il. lThe process of producing a dried fruit product which consists in grinding the :trait to a fine pulp, spraying said pulp in a Shower, directing a disintegrating gaseous material throughsaid shower at high velocity to separate the pulp into minutel particles, and rapidly drying said separated particles in a hot dryinr medium to form a dry powdered materia 5. The process of producing a dry grape powder which consists in finely grinding the grape pulp and hulls, spraying said ground material in a shower, separating said material while in transit into minute particles, and rapidly drying said separated particles to form a dry powdered material.

6. The process of producing a dried grapeproduct which consists in separating the seeds from the pulp and the hulls of the grapes, grinding the pulp and hulls to a tine condition, spraying said ground material in a shower and then separating the same into minute particles in a heated drying medium, and rapidly drying said particles while in transit in said medium.

7. The process of producing a dried grape powder which consists in grinding the skins and pulp oie the grapes to a fine condition,

spraying said ground material in a showerA in a heated medium, passing a gaseous medium through said shower at high velocity to separate t-he said material into minute particles and dryin said pulp in said medium while in transit therethrough.

8. The process of producin a dry grape powder which consists'in grin ing the Ifresh grapes and the hulls thereot1 to a ne pulp, spraying said material in an umbrella-like shower, directing a blast of highly heated gaseous medium at high velocity through said shower to separate said material into minute particles, and rapidly drying said separated particles in a hot drying medium.

9. The process of producing a dried grape product which consists in separating the seeds from the 'pulp and hulls of the grapes, grinding said pulp and hulls into a fine condition, cent-rlfugally spraying said finely ground material in a shower in a heated inedium, directing a blast of highly heated 'steam through said shower to separate said material into minute particles, and drying said separated particles while in transit through said heated medium.

ln restiinon whereof I aitir iny sinature.

@EN M. MACLAC AN.

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